The game of golf can be regarded as having two distinct phases: the first phase begins when the golfer “tees off” by making an initial stroke of the ball, lofting the ball into the air, and then may follow up with additional strokes of the ball which loft the ball into the air, with the goal of landing the ball on a manicured grassy surface known as the “green.” Once the ball is on the “green,” the golfer uses a special club known as a “putter” to strike the ball and cause it to roll toward, and ideally into, a hole in the ground called the “cup.” The putting stroke, unlike the previous strokes off of the green, involves causing the ball to roll with no perceptible vertical lift off of the surface of the ground.
Most golfers are aware of an idiom to the effect that one “drives for show and putts for dough.” This means that, while the initial strokes of the ball may be satisfying from the standpoint of covering long distances, the key factor that determines whether one achieves a winning or satisfactory score in the game of golf is whether one can regularly putt the ball into the cup from a variety of distances with a minimum numbers of strokes. Often victory in a game of golf will be decided by the ability to make a single putt.
Typically, a putt will involve striking the ball with a putter club and causing the ball to roll anywhere from a few inches to upwards of 100 feet to reach the cup. The farther the ball is sitting stationary from the cup at the time the putting stroke is executed, the more difficult it becomes to accurately cause the ball to roll into the cup on a single stroke.
Competitive golfers may spend many hours practicing their putting stroke. Typically, they will assemble a large number of balls on a practice putting green, and will then proceed to strike one ball, watch it roll toward the cup, and when it stops, they will assess what they have just done, and will then proceed to execute a second stroke following a similar sequence. In doing so, they will attempt to recall from “muscle memory” the precise kinesthetically-recalled executions of the previous stroke and make corrections based on the results of the previous stroke.
A variety of mechanical devices have been invented to assist golfers in executing a proper golf putting stroke. These devices include tracks and ramps that assist the golfer in drawing back the club and then returning the club to strike the ball along a predetermined plane and arc, and laser and other optical devices which attach to the club and which point from the clubhead to the distant cup thereby enabling the golfer to see the line which the ball should roll along.
In addition, computer-based devices have been invented to assist golfers in recording and analyzing their golf swing, using both the putter and other clubs. These devices use graphic displays which are set up in the vicinity of the location of the putting training event and require the golfer to execute a stroke and then look up, divert the attention, study a graphic display, and then execute a second stroke with the intent of correcting any deviations identified in the previous stroke.
The drawback to the mechanical devices which train one how to swing the club back and to return it along a predetermined plane and arc is that every golfer has a different body type and the uniqueness of each body dictates that each golfer will have a different ideal swing which feels and works best. In addition, the success or failure of a golf putting stroke is not determined by the events prior to making contact with the ball, but is solely a function of the velocity and angle of the golf putter head at the moment of impact with the ball.
The drawback to the laser device and other devices which attempt to show the proper line of a putt is that these devices cannot provide meaningful information concerning the velocity required to execute a successful stroke and, regarding the angle of the club head, the differences between a successful and an unsuccessful putt are a function of very minute variations in the angle of the club head face which even the best human eye cannot discern. Moreover, one must wait for the ball to roll to the target cup to know whether the stroke was successful and this involves a waiting period during which muscle memory is rapidly being lost or degraded.
Precise human muscle memory is very quickly degraded. Any device which requires that one execute a single stroke and then stop, look up, avert one's gaze, study a graphic display, read numbers and analyze data and diagrams, and then return for a second practice stroke is depriving the golfer of the ability to execute a multiplicity of strokes in quick rhythmic succession, hold an event in muscle memory, and to get meaningful feedback and make precise corrections after each stroke. Put plainly, no device exists which provides precise and immediate visual and audio feedback on clubhead velocity and angle at the moment of arrival at the “target zone” such that one can repeatedly practice in a non-stop rhythmic manner without moving out of the putting position and without moving one's head and get into a “groove” of successful muscle memory performance. Perfect practice “makes perfect” and the more times one practices perfectly, the more likely it becomes that one will be able to execute a similarly perfect putt in an actual “real-world” putting situation.
There is a need for a golf putting stroke training device which will assist a golfer to develop a controllable and repetitive putting stroke, and to adapt that stroke to different putting distances and conditions. The Golf Putting Stroke Training Device of the present invention (hereinafter the “trainer”) addresses this need.
The trainer permits the golfer to practice a putting stroke in a non-stop, rhythmic manner and get into a “groove” of successful muscle memory performance by providing virtually instantaneous visual and/or audio signals which inform the golfer whether a given putting stroke would have caused a standard golf ball, rolling on a flat surface of pre-selected rolling resistance, to successfully “drop” into the target cup; and if the practice putting stroke would be unsuccessful, whether the putt would be a near miss or a more off-target putt, and whether the unsuccessful putt would have been too short, too long (i.e., stroked with too high velocity), and/or deviated to the left or right of the target cup.
The trainer of the present invention permits the golfer to see, without raising his body or head or averting his gaze farther than a few feet from the ball position, visual indication on the device in the form of lights or other visual evidence whether a ball would have rolled along a proper line and into a cup, along a proper line but not far enough to reach the cup, along an improper line but stopping close enough to constitute a “near miss,” or along an improper line and stopping beyond what has been predetermined to be a “near miss” distance, and to see different visual signals (for example, using different colored lights set out in concentric arrays) indicating the outcome of each putting stroke.
The trainer also allows the golfer to select the distance of the putt he or she wishes to perfect their putting stroke for. It also allows the golfer to select whether audible signals are to be provided and the volume of such audible signals. Additional display means for “score-keeping” may also be provided
The rolling resistance encountered by a putted golf ball rolling on a golf green will vary depending on such factors as the height of the grass, and it's moisture level. As a result, a golf ball putted with a given velocity will travel different distances, depending on the condition of the green it is on. This variation in rolling resistance, often referred to as the “speed” of a green, may be quantitatively described and specified as a “Stimp level”. The Stimp level of a green is empirically determined by the Stimpmeter, which is an angled track that releases a ball at a known velocity so that the distance it rolls on a green's surface can be measured. The distance in feet traveled by a ball released at a velocity of 6 ft/sec is the Stimp level of the green. Stimp levels may vary from about 4.5 to 8.5 for average greens, to 13 or more for exceptionally fast greens.
The trainer of the present invention also allows the golfer to select the speed or Stimp level he or she wishes to perfect their putting stroke for.